er to make to Walter, and that was his
feelings towards Helen. He believed Walter had no hint of it. And as a
matter of fact that was true. Walter had so far had no love experiences
and Bauer had never by so much as a look or a word in Walter's presence
betrayed his secret.

"I don't expect to get married. At least not very soon," Bauer managed
to say. "But I want money. You can borrow of me," he added with one of
his rare smiles, "if you need it for your own nuptials."

"No immediate need," said Walter, laughing. "I have never seen the girl
my mother would like to welcome."

"Ah! Your mother. But she would be kind to the girl you would choose."

"Or the one that would choose me, you mean. I don't know. Mother would
be pretty particular about the people that got into the Douglas family.
Did I ever mention old man Damon who came around courting Helen last
winter. He wears a wig and deals in rubber goods. Old enough to be
Helen's father. I never saw mother so upset. And as for Helen--why--I
would as soon think of her taking you for a suitor as Damon. But you
never can tell what a girl will do. They generally do the opposite of
what you expect."

Bauer managed to say--"That's fortunate for some of us perhaps. Else
there might be no hope for unfortunate and homely people if there was
any fixed rules by which girls acted."

Walter stared at Bauer as he sometimes had to when Bauer opened his
philosophy unexpectedly.

"I wonder what will happen to you, old man, when you fall in love,
really and deeply?"

"I wonder," said Bauer softly.

"It will be interesting to watch you," said Walter laughing.

"Same to you," said Bauer with some spirit.

"We can watch each other," Walter continued.

"I have no doubt you will bear watching," was Bauer's reply, wrung from
him by the tense situation.

Walter roared, and did not venture to say any more on that subject. But
he went on to urge Bauer to answer his father's letter at once and give
him power of attorney to act for him and make the best possible terms
for his invention. Bauer promised before he left the room to do so, and
on reaching his own room he at once set to work on the difficult
business of answering his father on purely business grounds. Without
making any definite promises or giving his father any authority to act
for him, with characteristic caution he asked several questions about
the patent laws, and especially about the possibility of undertaking the
man